Thursday, February 26, 2009

Congratulation to Slow Food Waitakere member Greg Scopas, winner of the 'Best Sausages in New Zealand' 2009 Cuisine Artisan Awards.

Greg, of Salumeria Fontana, scooped the supreme award with his Sicilian Sweet Fennel Sausages made by hand in Wellsford using Canterbury's finest pork. Judges said the Salumeria Fontana sausages were "handmade with the greatest of care and the best of ingredients" and "exemplify top-notch artisan fare". They found his Sicilian Sweet Fennel Sausages "beautifully elegant, sweet and fresh, with great flavours, tasting clearly of pork and fennel and with perfect seasoning and tender skin". All Salumeria Fontana sausages are preservative- and gluten-free, and made from Murrellen pork from Canterbury, which can be traced right back to where it came from. Greg said winning the award was "just huge. We are pretty fussy about what we do, and it's good to get the recognition." Well done!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Today I had the pleasure of substituting Claire Inwood as the teacher at the Ranui Community centre cooking classes for children, part sponsored by Slow Food Waitakere. Vegetables came from the Ranui Community Gardens and with the children we cooked pasta with fresh tomato sauce and herbs, and roasted capsicums. I found the children, ranging from age 5 to 12, sincerely interested, enthusiastic, capable, helpful and...with good appetite! It was a pleasure to teach them and I am looking forward to do it again next week.

I personally would like to thank all of our Slow Food Waitakere members: it is because of you membership that these projects are possible, so thank you again, and don't forget to renew your membership!

Monday, February 23, 2009

There are a lot of things in the veggie garden right now, including tons of tomatillos...hopefully a salsa verde recipe will follow soon...

I also have 12 peaches! Not bad considering that the tree came from a discarded stone...and they taste great!

But the best thing is to be able to make the summer minestrone with whatever I can get in the garden. Today: leek, borlotti and green and yellow beans, zucchini, carrots, celery, parsley, tomato....

Just shell the beans, wash the veggies, cut everything into small pieces and make into a soup. adding salt, herbs and spices to taste (like a spoonful of basil pesto at the end) or a crust of Parmigiano to the stock, for more flavour. Serve hot or just warm, or even cold in a hot day.

And my first pumpkin! One King SeedsPumpkin Baby Bear plant produced 5 pumpkins.